In an emergency, it is known for a person to make an emergency telephone call with a personal mobile communications device, such as a cellular phone or a smartphone, by entering a predetermined sequence of numbers, e.g., 9-1-1 in the United States and Canada, or 1-1-2 in the European Union, on the mobile device. The mobile device typically operates over a public carrier communications network, and typically with a wireless, broadband, high-speed connection. Only minimal data is typically delivered with this emergency call, such as automatic number identification, subscriber name, and automatic location identification, e.g., global positioning satellite (GPS) coordinates, when available, to a public safety answering point (PSAP), also known as a call center. When deemed necessary, the call center, in turn, typically dispatches public safety (PS) personnel, such as police officers, firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical service technicians, disaster relief workers, military rescue personnel, and like first responders, to the incident scene to respond to remedy the emergency. These PS personnel typically utilize PS communication devices, both handheld and vehicle-portable, while working in the field. PS communication devices include, for example, land mobile radios (LMRs), such as handheld radios and/or vehicular radios, along with remote accessories, such as remote microphones, speakers, earpieces, headsets, and the like, as well as PS or non-PS smartphones, to support wireless voice communications. These primary, mission-critical PS devices and the infrastructure to support their operation are typically operated via a private, secure, and protected, proprietary PS network governed by a PS agency, e.g., a local government or department.
To improve public emergency communications services in a wireless mobile society, the art has proposed a Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1) environment, in which a person will be able to make a voice, text, still image, moving image (video), and data emergency call from any communications device via an Internet Protocol-based network. The NG 9-1-1 environment is not yet fully implemented, but the call center of the future is expected to receive the call and to dispatch PS personnel to the incident scene of the emergency, in a manner similar to current procedures.
As advantageous as the known public emergency communications services have been, there are circumstances where a more expedited and effective resolution of the emergency is needed. For example, during an emergency, especially of long duration, it is possible that battery power to the mobile device will drain completely, thereby thwarting further communications between the mobile device and the call center. As another example, a user of the mobile device may be unable during an emergency to activate one or more of the on-board sensors, which include an accelerometer, a compass, a gyroscope, a GPS sensor, a camera, a microphone, a barometer, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, an ambient light sensor, and like sensors. Sometimes, the user may have deliberately disabled one of these sensors, e.g., the GPS sensor, the camera, or the microphone, thereby making the disabled sensor unavailable during the emergency. As still another example, direct communication between the PS person at the incident scene and the mobile device would be of immense benefit during the emergency, but such communication is currently unavailable.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved public emergency communications service system and method that will alleviate the aforementioned problems and enable a more expedited and more effective resolution of an emergency.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and locations of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The method and system components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.